Colorado Boat Center Partners with Barletta Pontoon Boats in Country-wide Charitable Giving Campaign

Johnstown, Colo. – December 3, 2021 – Colorado Boat Center (CBC) is proud to announce they have partnered with the Bill & Kristin Fenech Foundation on behalf of Barletta Pontoon Boats, a premier pontoon boat manufacturer, to promote charitable giving across the country in local communities. The campaign announcement was made during the Model Year 2022 Barletta Pontoon Boat dealer meeting in August of 2021, as part of the recent acquisition of Barletta by Winnebago Industries. While the campaign was announced contingent upon the closing of the acquisition, it was not a part of the acquisition agreement. The campaign was solely funded by the Bill & Kristin Fenech Foundation.

Winnebago Industries, Inc. is a leading outdoor lifestyle product manufacturer of Winnebago, Grand Design, Chris-Craft, Newmar, and now Barletta Pontoon Boats brands, which are primarily used in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. 

Bill Fenech, president and founder of Barletta Pontoon Boats, devised the charitable giving campaign as a way to thank Barletta’s dealer network for their friendship and partnership over the past four-and-a-half years leading up to the acquisition. The campaign also supports long-standing initiatives at Barletta focused on taking care of their extended Barletta “family” members and the surrounding communities. 

“Kristin and I have been blessed over the years and the foundation is our way to give back to those in need,” stated Fenech. “While many ideas presented themselves as a way to thank our dealer partners, none of them would have had the lasting impact that this giving campaign will have. We are so thrilled to be a small part of the causes that our dealer partners are passionate about.”

Each Barletta dealer location received a percentage of their annual wholesale purchases as a gift from the Bill & Kristin foundation to direct to a charity of their choice. In return, all that was asked was that the dealer location match at least 10% of that gift. With full dealer participation, the total impact across the country will exceed $2 million dollars. Initial response from the dealer network has shown that dealers have opted to match the amount sponsored by the foundation which could result in over $4 million dollars of impact across the country. 

Colorado Boat Center is a family-owned and operated business that has served boaters since 1990. CBC became a Barletta Pontoon Boat dealer in 2019 and is pleased to see their extended boating family creating memories on this premier pontoon line. 

Colorado Boat Center is thrilled to select local Northern Colorado non-profit Partners as their charity and is pleased to gift Partners with a $20,000.00 donation, in partnership with the Bill & Kristin French Foundation. 

“Enriching lives and making an impact in our community is important to our family dealership and employees,” stated Eric Smith, general manager and co-owner of Colorado Boat Center. “We have witnessed firsthand the power of youth mentoring and the interpersonal skills, confidence, and trust that is gained from an important community-based mentoring program led by Partners and committed volunteers to assist youth overcome life challenges.”

Partners has been serving youth and families since 1978 and their Community-Based Mentoring Program continues to impact kids who are facing risk factors in life. “We are honored to be the recipient of this unexpected charitable gift,” commented Heather Vesgaard, executive director at Partners. “It takes a dedicated staff and volunteers to support more than 700 underserved and struggling youth in our community who rely on our life-changing mentoring programs and services. We are grateful to local businesses like Colorado Boat Center who see the value in youth mentoring so together we can continue to impact more lives.”Positive adult role-models looking to volunteer as mentors to help guide and support local children ages 7 to 17 years old are needed now more than ever. Partners currently has 150 children on a wait list. Volunteers interested in serving as a mentor/partner, can learn more at www.poweredbypartners.org.